The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Wins, not grudges, on mind of Marchi
If there was any simmering resentment at the series of events that ended Logan Marchi’s dream of quarterbacking the UConn football team, the Winsted native and Temple starting quarterback is keeping it to himself.
With UConn coming to Philadelphia on Saturday to face the Owls (noon, ESPNews), Marchi is set to become the first Connecticut native to start at quarterback against the Huskies since fellow Temple QB Mac DeVito of Westport threw for more than 200 yards in the 2001 season finale.
Marchi’s introduction to the business side of college athletics came 7 1⁄2 months after he became the first member of the Class of 2014 to commit to UConn, while Paul Pasqualoni was the Huskies’ head coach.
Marchi would finish with 9,702 passing yards in his four seasons at St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol, which is second in Connecticut high school history only to Casey Cochran, who was set to be one of the players Marchi planned on competing with for the starting quarterback job with the Huskies. However, that never happened.
“About three days before signing day I was told my scholarship would not be upheld,” was how Marchi described what happened in early February 2014. The official version was that
Marchi was denied admission into UConn, although multiple sources claim that neither Marchi nor his family was ever contacted by anybody from UConn’s admissions department. Bob Diaco, the head coach at the time, cited NCAA rules when refusing to directly address the situation with Marchi. Marchi had long since ended the recruiting process, so with the 2014 national signing day approaching, he was left in limbo.
“I was young-minded back then, just a kid, 17-18 years old. You try to think, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ and stuff like that,” Marchi said. “I tried to stay very positive, be mature about it and know that no matter what, I’m going to end up where I end up for a reason. I ended up at a better spot anyway, back-to-back 10-win football team, conference championship football team, and I still have 2 years left. Everything happens for a reason, and it ended up being good for me.
“I can’t say that I wasn’t upset about it and I didn’t hold a grudge, but nobody (at UConn) is even there still. The coaching staff is completely different, most of the guys on the team have graduated anyway, so it’s a whole different team, a whole different program now, so nothing is there for me from that situation.”
Marchi credits his family with helping him stay strong, especially in the four months from the time when his UConn scholarship disappeared and Temple — the first Football Bowl Subdivision program to offer him a scholarship — began to recruit him again. Frank Stamilio, who was the offensive coordinator when Marchi played at St. Paul, was at the top of the list of those outside his family to support Marchi when his future destination was up in the air.
“He still keeps in touch with me today,” Marchi said. “He’s a great guy and one of my all-time favorite coaches, so he was supportive of me as well.”
When Marchi hears of scholarships being pulled from players right before signing day, it brings back plenty of unpleasant memories.
“It’s a shame that stuff happens, that a coach would do that to a player that close or that tight to signing day, kind of flip up his whole life, but college football is a business and you just have to stay positive and know you are going to end up somewhere,” Marchi said.
Marchi was on the Temple roster in 2015 when the Owls played in the American Athletic Conference championship game, and threw six passes in six games as a redshirt freshman a season ago as he backed up four-year starting quarterback P.J. Walker.
“Being behind him, you learn the calm, cool, collective (persona),” Marchi said. “He never got rattled, never let it get to him. I learned more from him unspoken just watching his presence and how he carries himself, how he handles situations through games, so learning from him through that has helped me throughout my career.”
Marchi threw five touchdowns with no interceptions in 108 passing attempts in his first three starts but has thrown seven interceptions in the last three games. He is coming off career highs with 344 passing yards and a 165.1 passer rating in last week’s win over East Carolina.
“The past couple of games I’ve been forcing some throws and making some decisions that I should be throwing the ball away instead of trying to force it downfield,” Marchi said. “I was a little more conservative in the first couple of games so I just have to learn from those mistakes and those interceptions.”